This week’s 11 x 11 crossword from the Guardian intended to teach cryptic crosswords, found here
This week’s puzzle is the 3rd puzzle by Brassica, who started setting Quick Cryptics in February. Today we have anagrams and hidden word(s) with all the letters present, plus charades and naked words where the words come from the solvers general and cryptic knowledge. The last two Brassica puzzles have been more challenging than many puzzles in this series, and I suspect solvers are going to find this one chewier than usual.
The whole point of these crosswords is support and encouragement of new solvers, so special rules for these crosswords apply – see here – those rules include not posting solving times.
This blog was developed in response to suggestions. We hide the answers and the wordplay descriptions (parsing) too. To find the solution click on “Answer” and to find how the word play works, click on “Parsing” which will reveal the hidden information. You can choose to reveal everything using the “Expand All” button. If you have partially revealed the page, refreshing it will clear that, and allow you to expand all. The definition is in bold and underlined, the indicator is in red.
For additional help click here
There is a summary of the tricks used in the first six months here and a Guardian Crossword blog called the ultimate beginner’s guide has tips which may be useful for some solvers
For abbreviations and clue tips click here
Fifteen Squared uses several abbreviations and jargon tricks, there’s a full list here, of which I’ve used the following in this blog:
- underlining the definition in the clue – this is either at the beginning or end of the clue
- indicators are in red.
- CAPITALS to indicate which bits are part of the answer, e.g. haVE ALtered for the example.
- anagram – letters being used shown in brackets (SENATOR)* for the clue below to give TREASON.
- anagrind – anagram indicator – in the case below it is “arranged”
- soundalike – is indicated by “Wilde” – so in the example, Oscar “Wilde”, the playwright and author, is indicating the soundalike WILD.
- charades – the description below only gives the example of words being added together, but charades can be more complicated, adding abbreviations or single letters to another word. Examples previously used in this series are: Son ridicules loose overgarments (6) S (son) + MOCKS (ridicules), Get rid of dead pine (5) D(dead) + ITCH (pine) – D ITCH, and early on DR (doctor) + IVE (I have) to give DRIVE.
- reversals – the reversal element of a clue is indicated by < – so in the example clue below, VieTNAm <.
- CAD or clue as definition– where the whole clue gives the definition, sometimes called an &lit. These are rare.
- DBE or definition by example – e.g. where a dog might be clued as a setter – often using a question mark, maybe, possibly or e.g. to show that this is an example rather than a definition.
- surface – the meaning from reading the clue – so often cryptic clues use an English that could only be found in a cryptic crossword, but a smooth surface is a clue that has a meaning in English, which can be pointed or misleading.
TODAY’S TRICKS – from the crossword site – because the clues have moved on from the clue descriptions below, I am now adding more to the descriptions hidden above. Clues begin or end with a definition of the answer. The rest is one of these:
- Anagram Anagram of answer and hint that there’s an anagram
‘Senator arranged crime (7)’ gives TREASON - Hidden word(s) Answer hidden in clue’s words
‘Some haVE ALtered meat (4)’ gives VEAL - Charade Combination of synonyms/abbrevs
‘Qualify to get drink for ID (8)’ gives PASSPORT (pass + port)
– the same explanation from week 1 – see more above - Naked words Remove first and last letters of another word for answer
‘Called for citrus to be peeled (4)’ gives RANG from oRANGe (citrus).
| ACROSS | Click on “Answer” to see the solutions | |
| 4 |
Tore dress in long day of work? (5,5)
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AnswerSPLIT SHIFT |
Parsingcharade of SPLIT (tore) + SHIFT (dress) – and adding later, this sort of dress or the 18th century undergarment – sorry long re-enactors explanation. The definition refers to a version of working hours for e.g. catering or transport workers so they cover the busy hours, for example 10am-2pm then 5pm-10pm, 6am-10am then 2pm-8pm. |
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| 8 |
While online, remove name identifying gaunt Dotty (5)
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AnswerUNTAG |
Parsinganagram of (GAUNT) with an anagrind of “dotty”. The rather long definition is accurate, but confusing if it’s not something that immediately comes to mind. The examples given were, for example, photos on social media. |
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| 9 |
Dine at home, raising the temperature when naked (3,2)
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AnswerEAT IN |
Parsingnaked word (when naked) – from hEATINg (raising the temperature). |
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| 10 |
Sense marauder reaching Switzerland (5)
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AnswerHUNCH |
Parsingcharade of HUN (marauder) + CH (Switzerland). The Hun people were one of the invading forces across Europe, this force came from Asia in the 4th and 5th centuries, particularly under the leadership of Attila. CH comes from Cantons/Confederation of Helvetica – the initials found on postage stamps or the IVR (international vehicle registration) driving plates. |
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| 12 |
Not entirely picturing Italian city (5)
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AnswerTURIN |
Parsinghidden word(s) (not entirely) in picTURINg for this Italian city. |
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| 14 |
Endure some merciless tickling (5)
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AnswerSTICK |
Parsinghidden word(s) (some) of mercilesS TICKling – he couldn’t stick/endure the training to be able to run the marathon next weekend. |
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| 15 |
Oomph shown by Second XI? (5)
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AnswerSTEAM |
Parsingcharade of S (second) + TEAM (XI). S for second comes from the measure of time, which is one of the standard SI units. Oomph here suggests more energy – he ran out of oomph/steam/energy – and that almost certainly metaphorically refers to steam engines. |
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| 16 |
Deerhounds sneakily concealed (10)
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AnswerENSHROUDED |
Parsinganagram of (DEERHOUNDS) with an anagrind of “sneakily”, with lots of sneaky details in the clue: “concealed” could be a hidden word indicator, “sneakily” is not an anagram indicator we’ve seen before in this slot, and the solution is an unfamiliar word. |
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DOWN
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| 1 |
Wince in embarrassment, but showing guts with engagement offering (4)
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AnswerRING |
Parsingnaked word (showing guts) from cRINGe (wince in embarrassment) and a slightly cryptic definition. |
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| 2 |
Sanest, in arrangement, to say ‘OK’ (6)
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AnswerASSENT |
Parsinganagram of (SANEST) with an anagrind of “in arrangement”. |
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| 3 |
Cause amazement with passage from scandalous tune (4)
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AnswerSTUN |
Parsinghidden word(s) (passage from) scandalouS TUNe. |
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| 5 |
Act pretentiously, affectedly Proustian (3,2,4)
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AnswerPUT ON AIRS |
Parsinganagram of (PROUSTIAN)* with an anagrind of “affectedly”. |
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| 6 |
Mediate, as Milan footballers to give up (9)
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AnswerINTERCEDE |
Parsingcharade of INTER (Milan footballers) + CEDE (to give up). It’s worth knowing about Inter Milan, often shortened to Inter, as it’s a regular in crossword puzzles. |
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| 7 |
‘Endlessly rakish’? That hurts! (4)
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AnswerOUCH |
Parsingnaked word (endlessly) from lOUCHe (rakish) – I suspect that working out the word to start is the one that’s the challenge here. There’s also the misleading part of splitting “Endlessly rakish” into instruction and word to be manipulated. |
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| 11 |
Ramblers shriek when worried (6)
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AnswerHIKERS |
Parsinganagram of (SHRIEK) with an anagrind of “when worried”. There’s a really good surface here, where the clue makes sense as a sentence, so picking apart the wordplay and definition means looking at words individually. |
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| 13 |
Identify tooth covering that’s uncovered (4)
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AnswerNAME |
Parsingnaked word (that’s uncovered) of eNAMEl (tooth covering). |
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| 14 |
Notice quiet leak (4)
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AnswerSEEP |
Parsingcharade of SEE (notice) + P (quiet – as in musical notation). P is for piano and means quiet in Italian, so appears on musical scores as an instruction. |
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| 15 |
Biblical character’s string of somersaults (4)
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AnswerSAUL |
Parsinghidden word(s) (string of) in somerSAULts for one of two possible Biblical characters. This one is either the OT (Old Testament) King of Israel or the name of Paul in the NT before his revelation on the road to Damascus. |
Well, that was hard, thanks Shanne for the blog, Brassica, I think you’re in the wrong slot
Thank you Brassica, and thank you Shanne! I enjoyed this, but I found it much more difficult than I normally do. Partly that’s because I’ve always found naked words a challenge. Partly because I didn’t always feel the answers matched the definition, in particular 4A SPLIT SHIFT (I suppose that’s a long day, but the two don’t come to mind as meaning the same) and 8A UNTAG (I can guess, roughly, what it is, but I don’t think I’ve actually seen or heard it before).
Definitely more challenging than usual!
#2 Kestell(My ignorance of split shifts going with long days may say more about my lack of personal experience with certain kinds of work – my apologies to all chefs and waiters and many others, and thank you for your long hours!)
In the end I didn’t find this too bad, although I got 1d and 7d as guesses rather than recognising the naked words. I was pleased when I worked out the 16a anagram.
I don’t understand how to get SHIFT from DRESS
Thanks Brassica and Shanne
This was by far the hardest of these I’ve attempted. I genuinely found it as hard as most of today’s Prize. I needed a search for SPLIT SHIFT – I’ve never heard the term.
Sumit Rahman @6
A SHIFT is a type of dress.
Thanks Shanne – yes that was a tricky one. Bad start with 1a as I’d never come across “shift” for dress, so last one in for me. Shift is in my Chambers app as “to change the clothes of” (archaic or dialect). Also didn’t know UNTAG was really a thing.
Thanks Brassica
Definitely the toughest one in this slot that I have seen so far. 4a held out for a while. Thanks for the excellent blog Shanne.
@6 Sumit, if you Google you’ll find that a “shift dress” is a type of dress. And no, I didn’t know either, just like I had never heard of that kind of shift.
A step up for any absolute, early, beginners and some clues worthy of the Quiptic slot I felt. But enjoyable with some neat charades and hiddens and also some challenging anagrams. Thanks Brassica and to Shanne.
I’ve added some more information on shifts into the blog. It’s both a current shift dress, the sort of dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany – but still worn by a lot of people as it’s a fairly comfortable design, but it originated in 18th century undergarments. Sorry, it’s the sort of thing I just know as a dressmaker with an interest in clothing, and forget others don’t have that general knowledge.
Thanks Brassica and Shanne. That’s the most difficult one of these I’ve ever done. I didn’t know shift was a dress. I only parsed cRINGe after getting the answer. I never parsed lOUCHe. Enshrouded is indeed an unfamiliar word
Ah, I thought that 7d was “douche”… Never heard the other word.
Quite tough, definitely not a write-in!
I could not parse 1d – perhaps a difficult clue for beginners?
Ouch, that was tough, I needed a split shift to finish it.
Hardest one of these I’ve done. I found most of them hard, but some good learning points (e.g. XI as team.) New to cryptics so the blog is so useful to aid understanding.
Thank you Shanne for all your help.
I’m really surprised that the shift dress is not more known. They were worn all the time when I was a teenager – think Twiggy and Mary Quant. My vintage Sindy doll is wearing a shift. Maybe today’s commenters are younger than your average fifteensquared contributor! Ditto ‘split shift’. I suppose I did split shifts as a lecturer when I was teaching in the morning and then came back for an evening class. I did a lot of that, thankfully not for a while now.
Just discovered your website accidentally. Exactly what I needed. Your ‘indicators’ are what I have been looking for all along, together with your ‘parsing’ to unravel some of the far-off cryptic clues. Thank you Shanne.
Some very nice cluing – a good brain work out for a Sat morning. I got a few by crossers and guesswork rather than parsing: RING, HUNCH & OUCH – thanks to Shane’s blog, I am suitably educated.
SPLIT SHIFT was a write in due to a background in hospitality & a dressmaking mother. Other favourites were SEEP, NAME & ENSHROUDED.
Thanks Brassica & Shanne.
Didn’t finish. Was this a “quick” cryptic? SPLIT SHIFT eluded me — both the definition and the wordplay.
Sometimes the toughies are just frustrating and annoying. On the other hand, this was hard yet oddly enjoyable. Thanks Brassica and Shanne!
6 clues solved for me. Very tough.
Thanks for the explanations.
Much harder than usual. I think the clues that require you to find a word and then strip off the ends for another wors are the most challenging
I worked through that successfully, but it was certainly tough. And I found some of the clues very wordy, which only added to confusion!
That was tough – once I got 5D stuff started to fall into place, the first letter helped me parse 4A. I knew how to get to the answer, but just couldn’t make it work!
Ooft I’m not ready to step up to full cryptic yet!
I agree that this was too difficult a puzzle for this slot.
SPLIT SHIFT I knew from paying attention in bars and restaurants. I’m married, but I often dine alone to protect a little bit of “me time” (which my husband also appreciates sometimes); as a result I have chatted with more than my share of bartenders.
I thought the DEERHOUNDS-ENSHROUDED anagram was elegant.
Had fun with this one — though I’m still unsure why XI means team; and didn’t get Louche as Rakish — found it by cross letters thinking “That Hurts” was the definition.
Kieran @28
XI (eleven) is a team in football and cricket (and probably other sports as well).
I found that difficult as did others it seems. Louche is a new word to me as is Dress = Shift. Definitely the toughest Quick Cryptic yet
I see more people from the main cryptic threads commenting today. It was, indeed, quite tricky. I rendered it impossible by mistakenly thinking 16A was supposed to be two 5-letter words.
I thought Brassica was being helpful with the definitions of RING and OUCH. They readily went in, but I couldn’t come up with the original word to delete the first and last letters.
Like Amma @18, shifts were common in my teenage days, but a Twiggy I wasn’t. You have to be straight up and down, with not much in between. I was so glad when kaftans came in. 🙂
Glad to read others were challenged by this. Thought I was going backwards. However still found it very enjoyable. I’d put intervene instead of intercede for 6d so needed Shanne’s help to understand the parsing ( was ok with Inter)
Many thanks as always Shanne and Brassica
I also found it challenging, but for me it was tough only because of lack of vocabulary & GK. Didn’t know SHIFT for dress, CH for Switzerland, INTER MILAN, didn’t guess louche as synonym of rakish. So worked out these words from definition and crosses.
Enjoyed those I managed to work out from the clues.
Thanks, Brassica and Shanne.